Waters of the Heart by Doris Davidson

Author:Doris Davidson [Davidson, Doris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857905550
Publisher: Birlinn

Chapter Twenty

The June dinner for the Barclays was a great success. With no idea what a special menu should be, Cissie had confessed her problem, somewhat diffidently, to Mrs Gow, who had eyed her with a trace of condescension. ‘I hope you don’t think I’m presuming, Mrs Dickson, but I’ve had years of experience at catering for the gentry, and I always found they’re so tired of fancy dishes, they quite enjoy plainer fare for a change. Will I make out a menu for your approval?’

Cissie had taken care not to show her resentment at the inference that she wasn’t gentry. ‘Yes, thank you, Mrs Gow.’

The guests were loud in praise of the creamy barley soup, enthused over the thickly sliced pork with apple sauce, accompanied by roast and mashed potatoes, sweet young peas and carrots, and, surprisingly, a whole tender cabbage. When the main course was over, a mouth-watering chocolate mousse was brought in, and Cissie leaned back in some relief as her husband and the Barclays tucked into it. She hadn’t been sure of the menu Mrs Gow had suggested, but it appeared that the cook had been right.

After the coffee, Dorothy patted her stomach. ‘I’m so full I’ll have to let out the laces of my stays tomorrow.’

Roland’s glance held a slight warning, and she winked at Cissie who said, hastily, ‘Are we all ready to go through to the sitting room?’

‘You two ladies carry on.’ Bertram said. ‘Roland and I will join you once we’ve had our brandy and cigars.’

When Dorothy sat down in the other room, she said, ‘Trust me to put my foot in it. You’ve learned my little secret now.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘I was only a shopgirl when I married Roland. I do try to behave like a lady, but I suppose ladies don’t speak about their stays in company.’ She gave a tiny chuckle. ‘The old words come out in spite of me, and anyway, he can be a right stuffed shirt sometimes.’

Noticing Cissie’s shocked expression and believing it to show disapproval, Dorothy looked stricken. ‘I should have told you before. Now you won’t want to be friends with me.’

Cissie burst out laughing. ‘I was Bertram’s secretary when he married me, but I used to be a spinner in his father’s mill, and before that, at home in Aberdeen, I served in a little dairy.’

Clapping her hands, Dorothy cried, ‘So we’re both common shopgirls? I thought you’d been born a lady, but I always felt comfortable with you. I never dreamt you’d been playing a part, too, and I suppose we’d better keep it up in front of our husbands. I don’t know about Bertram, but Roland would be absolutely mortified if he knew I’d told you about my murky past.’

Murky past? Cissie’s heart contracted at the thought of her own past, murkier than anything Dorothy could dream of, but her friend was chattering on about the gaffes she had made in front of her cook and Cissie slowly relaxed. They were both laughing when the men joined them.

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